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aubergine
May 12th, 2006, 04:12 PM
I haven't been to any of those, but do report back :)

Lilac Hamster
May 12th, 2006, 05:56 PM
I know someone who went to the Mantra, she had a bad experience of being offered quorn dishes even after saying she was vegan, and even worse when she pointed out that quorn was not vegan, the waitress, instead of admitting a mistake, made it worse by replying that their other vegan customers eat quorn! Are they like vegetarians who eat chicken? was my friend's response to that.
The owner has given an assurance that she will make sure staff are in future retrained to understand what is vegan and what is not. So we hope they have improved, and if you go would be very interested in your feedback on the Mantra.

Lesley

Jamie
May 13th, 2006, 11:40 AM
Govindas was closed for a special event or something so we went to Mantra. It's down the far end of Dean St, not the Oxford Street end like Red Veg.

We had Platter No.2 for our starter, which had three each of spring rolls, onion bhajias, and something I forgot the name of, but hadn't tried before, which was some sort of mushy peas in batter, in a ball. It came with a choice of dips, and was HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! absoutely gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And they were quite helpful when I said I was vegan, but it was obvious which things were ok, basically anything that didn't say it had yoghurt, cream, or quorn in it. Although I checked on the dips, the mint dip wasn't (raita I imagine), we had sweet & sour, sweet chilli, and coriander and chilli, which was apparently homemade to a secret recipe, and was my most favourite of them all.

Service was great, we had some nice (soft) drinks, although I don't know about the wines being vegan, I don't bother to drink alcohol anymore! I drank pineapple juice, my hubby had coke, we shared some fizzy water.

The only problem was the main course..... great that it came with rice (white - it tastes so weird after getting used to wholegrain!) (or maybe it was just not the best, I really couldn't say, it's been that long since I've had plain white rice!), and chapatis, but the curry we had - I think it was channa masala (chickpeas in a tomato based sauce), and bombay potato (I thought we'd be ok with something we would be familiar with).... they were so HOT!!! Dead spicy, needed a fire extinguisher. I've never had something so spicy in my life. We were a bit full anyway so we just decided to leave it, although when the man came back and we mentioned it, he did say he could suggest something to ofset it (or something like that), but we just got the bill cause we were a bit stuffed anyway (large starters, and all the liquids to put the fire out!). It came to just under £40 - I didn't look at the prices but I know juices can end up being around £3 each and I had two, as well as probably about £3.50 for the water, and the starter was £8. I think the mains were generally around £9 each.

I would DEFINATELY go again, although I would order either several starters (although that's a bit cheating isn't it, and rather fattening..!), or starters and one of the mains that looked more like a lunch course - they had stuff like a veggie club sandwich that had indian stuff in it (it was vegan), and there was a bhaji pitta sandwich, and some other stuff like that.

It turns out we aren't going to do the buffet tonight, as our friends are a bit too busy now for a trip into london, but they said we'll go for my birthday in a few weeks. To be honest, I'm knackered, and glad to eat locally!

Marrers
May 15th, 2006, 11:09 AM
I can heartily say to everyone you MUST go the the Riverside Vegetaria in Kingston - it's totally fab and I go there whenever I can! It's especially lovely in the good weather as you can sit outside on the riverbank. If it's cold you can sit inside and look out.

They used to have a second branch in Croydon and I was in there all the time, but sadly it closed down due to lack of trade.

It's now quite a long drive to get there and although I really miss having wine with my meal it is still worth the effort. (My fave is the Garlic Aubergines with broad bean rice and salad.) They have an extensive menu, mostly vegan and loads of organic stuff. The soups are great and you can buy them frozen to take home.

And I wouldn't say the staff are miserable - they are just quiet and unobtrusive, letting you get on with your meal and conversation without interruption!

Troutina
May 17th, 2006, 10:22 AM
Weeeeeeeeee I'm excited to try this place!!

TofuFooYung
May 17th, 2006, 11:56 AM
I can heartily say to everyone you MUST go the the Riverside Vegetaria in Kingston - it's totally fab and I go there whenever I can! It's especially lovely in the good weather as you can sit outside on the riverbank. If it's cold you can sit inside and look out.

Have you noticed how many zillion billion swans and geese there are on the riverbank!

A really pretty view! :)

Marrers
May 18th, 2006, 03:11 AM
Yup. It (Vita Organics, Wardour Street on corner of Meard Street) was very scrummy. A small place, a little cold because the door was often open with people queuing to get a meal-to-go. It's a buffet that they serve you. You can chose between something like 3, 5 & 7 servings. They even had vegan desserts but they were a bit expensive for me. The food was amazing though, stirfrys, curries, stews, salad... They had loads of cookbooks out that you could have a look at too.
I finally went there today! Everything is vegan and I was spoilt for choice and wanted to try everything!
I was very impressed with the 7 dishes I had (for £7.50). The cakes were nice - there were 5 or 6 cakes to choose from.
It's a lovely place too, not at all busy when I was there at about 5.30pm.

Mr Flibble
May 20th, 2006, 01:34 PM
Camerino's (http://www.camerinorestaurant.com/findex.html) is an italian resturant 2 doors down from Joi in Percy Street (London) that I went to last night. It has the same floor space as Joi but slightly more upmarket decor ;). It's not a vegetarian restaurant by any means, but I spoke to the manager in advance and was very knowledgeable and helpful on the night - I wasn't made to feel like i was being awkard. It's a more traditional italian restaurant than most places with all food freshly made on site and more interesting things than stereotypical/popular amongst english dishes (no pizza!). It's always good to see customers at such places from the country and there were certainly a lot of italians eating there. I was with a party of 9; 1 vegan (me), 1 vegetarian and 7 omnis, but they made a lot of effort and let me choose what I wanted from several options that weren't on the menu. I'm not a wine expert so didn't drink any, but they have plenty of spirits that I know to be vegan. I had a small crostini with mixed veg as antipasti followed by linguini with tomatoes and veg. For main an asparagus risotto and for dessert pineapple sorbet with a ring of baked pineapple and sweet chilli. I was feeling adventurous and glad i tried - the chilli works really well. Both the quality of food and service was excellent; it's certainly one of the best italians I've had and would go back if with other omnis. On my own or with other vegans thou I'd probably go somewhere 100% vegetarian, particularly as there's so many to choose from. It's a nice option to have thou for omnis who insist on going somewhere where they can consume dead things! The music is very low and generally quite quiet, with about 1 member of staff per 4 tables. I'm not sure whether lunchtime is cheaper, but friday night was £30-50 a head exc drinks (I'm not sure how much exactly mine was, if I'd been paying i'd have just gone to Joi ;)).

Antonia
May 21st, 2006, 10:43 AM
Woodys, Apsley Marina, Hemel Hempstead.

I can't believe that there's a vegetarian restaurant in Hemel!! Not a huge choice of vegan options on the menu, but a few. The staff are very friendly and happy to adapt other menu items anyway. Quite cheap too. All organic.

tiggerjaye
May 24th, 2006, 09:03 AM
I've been trying to find some clues in the other restaurant threads, but haven't yet had much joy (other than Vitaorganic). Basically, I'm looking for somewhere in Soho that serves vegan cakes & is open during the evenings (specifially Fridays) - it doesn't need to be an all-vegan place, just needs to have at least one (preferably yummy!) vegan cake option..any thoughts?

Thanking ye kindly in advance!

Mr Flibble
May 24th, 2006, 11:58 AM
You may want to try beatroute on berwick street (far south end by somerfield). Not a cake shop as such, but they usually have one or 2 vegan ones and are open most evenings.

VeganJohn
May 24th, 2006, 05:35 PM
If my memory serves me correctly, the restaurant Mildred's in Soho sold some vegan cakes as desserts, as well as the best vegan cheesecake I've ever tasted. Or were you meaning to take away, e.g. somewhere that sells cakes over the counter, that type of thing?

alisont
May 24th, 2006, 10:21 PM
Beatroot has the best ever vegan choc cake ive tasted and a fab choccy crispy cake thingy:D I just love that place!

Im visiting London next weekend so will be heading straight to Beatroot, but will see if im by that Mildreds as i love vegan cheesecake.........

I can feel a major munching weekend approaching;)

tiggerjaye
May 25th, 2006, 07:31 AM
Many thanks! That's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for :) And having done a bit of digging, anyone else who wants to try out the delectables available at the above can find Beatroot at 92 Berwick St (020 7437 8591) & Mildred's at 45 Lexington St (020 7494 1634) - roll on Friday!

the_marmite_kid
May 26th, 2006, 10:55 AM
i havent been in there yet but foyles book shop on charing cross road has a coffeeshop on the first floor and it sell vegan cakes, i will have a look one of theses days

Mr Flibble
May 26th, 2006, 04:49 PM
they do and are not bad, but are scandelously overpriced

alisont
May 28th, 2006, 11:58 AM
Im in London next Fri/Sat trying to decide which places to eat!

I will be sure to go to Beatroot(for their yummy cake!), but whats the view of Red Vege and 222 Veggie/Vegan in Kensington - does a £5 lunch buffet? Anyone been? food sounds good there:)

The tai/chinese vegan buffets will be sure to tempt me too - which is the best? Is it one of the Greek Street ones?

Too much choice;)

Alison:)

pantoia
May 28th, 2006, 01:44 PM
HElloooo!!

Does anybody know where to get nigari in london? I want to make my own tofu and don't want to use calcium sulphate, as it seems to cause kidney stones, and with the amount of tofu that i eat I'm prone to get the Uluru growing in there.

Have a nice day everybodyyy!!!!
marta

s.london posse
May 28th, 2006, 10:11 PM
222 is my fav vegan restaurant, the £5 buffet is wicked but the best bit is the desserts. If you go make sure you get there early, i have to admit im usually there twice a week i cant resist the vegan pancakes

alisont
May 28th, 2006, 10:29 PM
Those pancakes sound fab:) id prob not be there til 1-2pm must check out the buffet times...............

alisont
Jun 4th, 2006, 12:51 PM
Well back from a short trip to London - Fri had the fab buffet lunch at 222 - excellent buffet choice and of course had to try the pancakes for pud - very nice:)

Fri dinner I went to the Tai buffet in Greek Street - wish there was somewhere like that by me:rolleyes: also managed a slice of choc cake at Beatroot!

Sat I went to Red Vege for a chilli vege burger, then had a slice of carob cake at Fresh n Wild in Camden, took a quinoa salad tub for the train home.

Walked everywhere to burn off all those cals!

Did manage some shopping and sightseeing apart from stuffing my face:D

Londons def a great place to eat as a vegan!

Off to the Veggies/vegan bbq in Birmingham soon for more yummy food......

Smoothie
Jun 17th, 2006, 10:35 AM
http://www.veganlondon.co.uk/eat/index.htm - check this out. when I was in london, i really enjoyed a chinese vegan all you can eat restaurant called "JOI VEG", in camden town, around the university. on the other side i hated REDVEG - it was disgusting. the best place, however was of course POGO CAFÉ. soo good.

Jamie
Jun 17th, 2006, 10:06 PM
anyone else go to the animal aid vegan food fayre today?? It was at the american church, on TC Rd right near Planet Organic. It was quite nice really, although we didn't get there till half two and there wasn't much of the free food left!! We managed to fill up though on various different things, got a few freebies, and plenty of into. I got a flyer for the proper London vegan fair in Sept - can't wait!! it says 10am till 10pm! :o do you think it will go on that long?? I heard it's smaller than the Bristol so I don't think I'd manage to hang around for the 12 hours, however much I'd like ;)

at least I've got time to save up for it!! :o

Blueshark
Jun 28th, 2006, 07:44 PM
I was in Eat & Two Veg over the weekend. It has an american diner feel to it, with seating outside in a very trendy area in London. It is a vegetarian restaurant, with some vegan dishes and some that can be veganised. The food is fusion of many cultures, which is both a hit and a miss.

There could have been more of a dessert selectiotn, with only one dish available as a vegan option. The drinks selection, with many types of tea and Pinkus, a vegan beer was impressive. My dining partner informed me of the horrific truth of regular beers.

AbFab
Jul 5th, 2006, 09:05 PM
I've only been for tea (drink not 'supper') but I thought I'd mention Service-Heart-Joy in Wimbledon in case any of you are down this neck of the woods for the tennis! 191 Hartfield Road, SW19 3TH. Basic, not open late in the evening, so not a place for dinner. Yet. Cafe style. Very yellow building on the corner, you can't miss it!

Edited Autumn '06: this place has shut down due to the property being bought up by developers.